L&G Talks Asset Management

The race to provide faster broadband is on. But will incumbents be disrupted by the challenger providers: the 'altnets'? The upcoming set of results from BT and their strategy for the future will be crucial in determining the answer.

In 2018, UK consumers spent a total of one day a week online, more than twice as much as in 2007. Time spent online, demand for data and the number of devices connected to the internet all continue to grow, generating demand for ever faster and more reliable internet connections. BT currently passes less than a million homes with full fibre, targeting three million by 2022, and potentially leaving the company vulnerable to market share losses from the altnets in the long term. BT’s future depends on this investment decision – will management be willing to take some short term pain to preserve its long-term success?

Read Marija and Madeleine’s blog here: https://futureworldblog.lgim.com/categories/themes/uk-broadband-infrastructure-at-a-crossroads/?cid=lgimtalks

•    Marija Simpraga, Infrastructure Strategist, Real Assets team
•    Madeleine King, Co-Head of Pan European Investment Grade Research, Global Fixed Income team
•    Mark Chappel, Senior Investment Writer
We want to hear from you! Email us at [email protected] with your thoughts on the podcast and any suggestions of the types of content you’d like to see covered.
This podcast is intended for investment professionals, and shouldn’t be shared with a non-professional audience. This podcast should not be taken as an invitation to deal in Legal & General investments. Any views expressed during this recording belong to the individuals and are based on market conditions at the time of recording, and do not reflect the views of Legal & General Investment Management. Legal & General Investment Management is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Legal & General Investment Management, One Coleman Street, London, EC2R 5AA. Register in England no. 2091894. All rights reserved. No part of this audio may be reproduced in whole or in part without the prior written consent of Legal & General Investment Management.

This week we’ve returned to that famous British obsession: housing. Now that 20% of the UK population are choosing to rent their home, the expectations of lifestyle renters for their home developments have risen accordingly – such as allowing pets or permanent decoration. The build to rent sector involves the large scale development of new housing stock with the needs of ‘lifestyle renters’ in mind. Although the sector is a comparatively young and smaller part of the UK housing puzzle, build to rent can arguably help meet the needs of renters, local authorities and long-term investors alike.

Eleanor Jukes returns to discuss all things renting from how these developments can deliver resilient, inflation-linked incomes, to community engagement, to how residents prefer apartment bedrooms to sit alongside rather than opposite one another because the latter has a distinct ‘prison’ feel...

Find out more about our Real Assets team here: https://www.legalandgeneral.com/institutional/real-assets/?cid=lgimtalks
•    Eleanor Jukes, Senior Strategist, Real Assets
•    Mark Chappel, Senior Investment Writer
We want to hear from you! Email us at [email protected] with your thoughts on the podcast and any suggestions of the types of content you’d like to see covered.
This podcast is intended for investment professionals, and shouldn’t be shared with a non-professional audience. This podcast should not be taken as an invitation to deal in Legal & General investments. Any views expressed during this recording belong to the individuals and are based on market conditions at the time of recording, and do not reflect the views of Legal & General Investment Management. Legal & General Investment Management is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Legal & General Investment Management, One Coleman Street, London, EC2R 5AA. Register in England no. 2091894. All rights reserved. No part of this audio may be reproduced in whole or in part without the prior written consent of Legal & General Investment Management.

Variable or fixed rate mortgage? That’s the first question asked once someone knows you’re an economist, in James’s experience. Despite an original plan to study computer programming, when the school didn’t offer the course he turned to economics, following it through academia and into the Treasury. From the world of computer games to interest rate expectations, we explore James’s search for the ultimate ‘underlying spreadsheet’.

In our discussion, James talks about how the loss of his father’s job shaped his views of booms, busts and policy levers, and how the provision of capital from the ‘haves’ to the ‘have nots’ drives economic innovation and creative destruction.

Today’s guest:

•         James Carrick, Global Economist, Asset Allocation team

We want to hear from you. Email us at [email protected] with your thoughts on the podcast and any suggestions of the types of content you’d like to see covered.

This podcast is intended for investment professionals, and shouldn’t be shared with a non-professional audience. This podcast should not be taken as an invitation to deal in Legal & General investments. Any views expressed during this recording belong to the individuals and are based on market conditions at the time of recording, and do not reflect the views of Legal & General Investment Management. Legal & General Investment Management is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Legal & General Investment Management, One Coleman Street, London, EC2R 5AA. Register in England no. 2091894. All rights reserved. No part of this audio may be reproduced in whole or in part without the prior written consent of Legal & General Investment Management.

From the Melrose-GKN bid to the first results of our Climate Impact Pledge, 2018 was a crucial year for better understanding the decisions companies make and how we can make sure the interests of investors are looked after.

Technological developments mean that companies are disclosing more data than ever before on their policies and other environmental, social and governance (ESG) metrics, informing our investment and engagement decisions. Sacha Sadan and Meryam Omi join the podcast to talk about the key issues on which they engaged with companies, the recent ESG regulations here in the UK, and the top questions they receive from clients on responsible investing.

Read our Active Ownership report here: http://update.lgim.com/activeowner?cid=lgimtalks

•    Sacha Sadan, Director of Corporate Governance
•    Meryam Omi, Head of Sustainability and Responsible Investment Strategy
•    Max Julius, Senior Investment Communications Manager

We want to hear from you! Email us at [email protected] with your thoughts on the podcast and any suggestions of the types of content you’d like to see covered.

This podcast is intended for investment professionals, and shouldn’t be shared with a non-professional audience. This podcast should not be taken as an invitation to deal in Legal & General investments. Any views expressed during this recording belong to the individuals and are based on market conditions at the time of recording, and do not reflect the views of Legal & General Investment Management. Legal & General Investment Management is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Legal & General Investment Management, One Coleman Street, London, EC2R 5AA. Register in England no. 2091894. All rights reserved. No part of this audio may be reproduced in whole or in part without the prior written consent of Legal & General Investment Management.

Investing in the Chinese economy often deals with particularly impressive numbers. This is an economy which has tripled in size since 2005, even now contributing approximately a third of all world GDP growth despite fears that China’s growth has fallen to a ‘mere’ 6%. When a fifth of all travel expenditure comes from the less than 10% of Chinese citizens who hold passports, the Chinese consumer is already an immense driving force of that growth.

Despite this, the medium-term investment outlook for China is often presented as mixed. The surge in debt levels and demographic concerns over an ageing population lead many to fear a Chinese ‘hard landing’. James and Veeral join the podcast for a fascinating discussion on why China looks like 1970s Japan and how the government’s beginning to change its tune on intellectual property rights.

Read James’s latest blog on the China’s structural slowdown here:
https://macromatters.lgim.com/categories/economics/chinas-structural-slowdown-why-5-is-the-new-15/

Read Veeral’s latest blog on Chinese mobile subscription costs here:
https://futureworldblog.lgim.com/categories/themes/whats-a-chinese-mobile-phone-subscriber-worth/
•    James Carrick, Global Economist
•    Veeral Gandhi, Equity Analyst
•    Mark Chappel, Senior Investment Writer

We want to hear from you! Email us at [email protected] with your thoughts on the podcast and any suggestions of the types of content you’d like to see covered.

This podcast is intended for investment professionals, and shouldn’t be shared with a non-professional audience. This podcast should not be taken as an invitation to deal in Legal & General investments. Any views expressed during this recording belong to the individuals and are based on market conditions at the time of recording, and do not reflect the views of Legal & General Investment Management. Legal & General Investment Management is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Legal & General Investment Management, One Coleman Street, London, EC2R 5AA. Register in England no. 2091894. All rights reserved. No part of this audio may be reproduced in whole or in part without the prior written consent of Legal & General Investment Management.

The recent soft patch in growth and dovish shift from the Federal Reserve has made it less likely that the US enters recession next year. While 2019 may not be the year that the US wholly reinvests in its crumbling infrastructure, it’s certainly at the top of both parties’ 2020 policy targets and neither side will want to be outdone. The market has become very pessimistic about infrastructure-related stocks' prospects but we see several potential catalysts that could trigger a rebound over the next two years.

Joining Max on the podcast are Tim Drayson and Lars Kreckel to discuss the team’s contrarian ‘Rebuilding America’ theme and the outlook for US fiscal and monetary policy. Please note that figures are correct as of the time of recording in March 2019.

Read Tim’s latest blog on the US economy here:
https://macromatters.lgim.com/categories/economics/us-economy-extending-the-cycle/

Read Lars’s latest blog on US infrastructure stocks here:
https://macromatters.lgim.com/categories/strategy/rebuilding-america-the-case-for-us-infrastructure-stocks/

•         Tim Drayson, Head of Economics
•         Lars Kreckel, Global Equity Strategist
•         Max Julius, Senior Investment Communications Manager

We want to hear from you! Email us at [email protected] with your thoughts on the podcast and any suggestions of the types of content you’d like to see covered.

This podcast is intended for investment professionals, and shouldn’t be shared with a non-professional audience. This podcast should not be taken as an invitation to deal in Legal & General investments. Any views expressed during this recording belong to the individuals and are based on market conditions at the time of recording, and do not reflect the views of Legal & General Investment Management. Legal & General Investment Management is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Legal & General Investment Management, One Coleman Street, London, EC2R 5AA. Register in England no. 2091894. All rights reserved. No part of this audio may be reproduced in whole or in part without the prior written consent of Legal & General Investment Management.

As record numbers look to integrate sustainable investment considerations into their portfolios, it comes as no surprise that the world of factor-based investing is not immune. According to a 2018 survey conducted by FTSE Russell, 55% of factor investors are looking to incorporate environmental, social and governance (ESG) company analysis but as yet, there’s been no well-defined blueprint as to how this can be comprehensively achieved.

Joining Eliza are Adam Willis and Dave Barron to discuss the ins and outs of factor index construction and how schemes are building their factor portfolios to not only potentially outperform traditional market-cap index trackers but also integrate ESG analysis simultaneously.

David’s article “Responsible investing: factor friend or foe?” is available here:
http://www.lgim.com/uk/en/insights/our-thinking/market-insights/responsible-investing-factor-friend-or-foe.html

•    David Barron, Head of Equity Index
•    Adam Willis, Head of Index and Multi-Asset Distribution
•    Eliza Grimond, Investment Writer

We want to hear from you! Email us at [email protected] with your thoughts on the podcast and any suggestions of the types of content you’d like to see covered.

This podcast is intended for investment professionals, and shouldn’t be shared with a non-professional audience. This podcast should not be taken as an invitation to deal in Legal & General investments. Any views expressed during this recording belong to the individuals and are based on market conditions at the time of recording, and do not reflect the views of Legal & General Investment Management. Legal & General Investment Management is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Legal & General Investment Management, One Coleman Street, London, EC2R 5AA. Register in England no. 2091894. All rights reserved. No part of this audio may be reproduced in whole or in part without the prior written consent of Legal & General Investment Management.

What do you think of when you hear the word ‘millennial’? The archetype most prevalent in advertising and popular culture is one of an early-twenties, affluent (but not too affluent), city-dweller. But the 1.8 billion generation known as millennials are anywhere between the ages of 23 and 37 – by and large they have left undergraduate education, are well established in the workforce and their spending habits have moved from the novelty to the norm.

CJ Fildes and Eliza Grimond join the podcast this week to talk about the latest research on how millennials are engaging with their finances, from real-time spending habit feedback to challenger banks and understanding the need to invest and save for longer.

To read more about our research into customers’ attitudes towards environmental issues and what stops them from taking positive action.

•    CJ Fildes, Senior Communications Manager, Personal Investing
•    Eliza Grimond, Investment Writer

We want to hear from you! Email us at [email protected] with your thoughts on the podcast and any suggestions of the types of content you’d like to see covered.

This podcast is intended for investment professionals, and shouldn’t be shared with a non-professional audience. This podcast should not be taken as an invitation to deal in Legal & General investments. Any views expressed during this recording belong to the individuals and are based on market conditions at the time of recording, and do not reflect the views of Legal & General Investment Management. Legal & General Investment Management is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Legal & General Investment Management, One Coleman Street, London, EC2R 5AA. Register in England no. 2091894. All rights reserved. No part of this audio may be reproduced in whole or in part without the prior written consent of Legal & General Investment Management.

In the late 1990s, when the world of equities was one of pinstriped suits and hard sells, European credit presented exciting new opportunities with a brand new currency. Leaving Lehman Brothers just a few months prior to its downfall, Ben came to Legal & General Investment Management at the epicentre of the global financial crisis.

Understanding the financial world as one of simply matching borrowers and lenders, his role as Head of Investment Strategy and Research involves sorting the signal from the market noise. Directing the company’s long-term research, Ben coordinates our work on the themes and major trends shaping markets and how those non-consensus views can be implemented.

Today’s guest: Ben Bennett, Head of Investment Strategy and Research

We want to hear from you! Email us at [email protected] with your thoughts on the podcast and any suggestions of the types of content you’d like to see covered.

This podcast is intended for investment professionals, and shouldn’t be shared with a non-professional audience. This podcast should not be taken as an invitation to deal in Legal & General investments. Any views expressed during this recording belong to the individuals and are based on market conditions at the time of recording, and do not reflect the views of Legal & General Investment Management. Legal & General Investment Management is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Legal & General Investment Management, One Coleman Street, London, EC2R 5AA. Register in England no. 2091894. All rights reserved. No part of this audio may be reproduced in whole or in part without the prior written consent of Legal & General Investment Management.

How can pension trustees prepare for new requirements on the environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors? New guidelines from the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) make it clear that it is not sufficient to focus on a narrow definition of the bottom line in order to meet schemes’ core objective: providing retirement benefits for members. Instead, trustees must also consider the financial materiality of ESG considerations.

Joining Simon on the podcast this week is Head of Institutional Clients, Mark Johnson, to cover what trustees need to know about the new guidelines and what needs to be done.

If you’d like to read more about our work in this area, our article Material change: a five-step ESG checklist for trustees is available on the LGIM website: http://www.lgim.com/uk/en/insights/our-thinking/

•    Mark Johnson, Head of Institutional Clients
•    Simon Chinnery, Head of DC Client Solutions

We want to hear from you! Email us at [email protected] with your thoughts on the podcast and any suggestions of the types of content you’d like to see covered.

This podcast is intended for investment professionals, and shouldn’t be shared with a non-professional audience. This podcast should not be taken as an invitation to deal in Legal & General investments. Any views expressed during this recording belong to the individuals and are based on market conditions at the time of recording, and do not reflect the views of Legal & General Investment Management. Legal & General Investment Management is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Legal & General Investment Management, One Coleman Street, London, EC2R 5AA. Register in England no. 2091894. All rights reserved. No part of this audio may be reproduced in whole or in part without the prior written consent of Legal & General Investment Management.